"Yesterday? Oh, right—early this morning, Shin did contact me. He mentioned some issues between him and Xue."
Shin's department manager, a man in his thirties, recalled the events and gave this answer after some thought.
Edward stood to the side, feeling helpless as Crane was already visibly excited. He confidently declared that he would definitely identify the culprit and bring them to justice.
Though Crane hadn't named anyone outright, from the look on his face, Edward could tell he still strongly suspected Shin. He even went so far as to call in the onboard security.
Officer Jenny, dressed in her uniform, took the report of a missing person very seriously. She assured everyone that an investigation was already underway, with a search team dispatched and constant attempts being made to reach Xue via phone.
As for now…
"Did you actually see Xue at the time? Was she in the room?" Crane pressed, questioning the department leader intently.
The man scratched his head and replied after thinking for a moment.
"Yes, I did speak to Xue at the time. I figured since we were all on this trip together, and considering she and Shin have been dating for three or four years—maybe even heading toward marriage—I should try to ease the situation. Xue was in the room when I went in…"
The manager, whose name was Desmond, carefully recalled the details.
"Wait, go into more detail here," Crane interrupted. "Did she respond to you? Did she turn around? Did you see her face?"
He took out a notepad and pen, jotting down notes as he questioned, while Shin sat nearby with a helpless expression.
Q was perched on Edward's head, curiously observing the situation, occasionally rubbing its head affectionately against him.
Edward gently patted the little Pokémon to soothe it.
Ever since that battle, both Q and Fortune had changed. They now understood the dangers Edward had faced, and both felt incredibly guilty for not being able to help more.
Edward himself didn't blame them—he had even comforted them, saying it wasn't their fault. After all, even with their increased strength from the fear candy, it was nearly impossible for them to contend with a Legendary Pokémon. And Cyrus—he was basically a lunatic. Under those circumstances, Q and Fortune had done all they could.
Still, they couldn't forgive themselves.
Q had become more attached to Edward and trained even harder.
As for Fortune…
Edward's eye twitched at the thought. Fortune had taken a rather… unique approach to self-improvement. Unlike normal Pokémon, it had started self-studying Pokémon battle strategies and even began reading economics textbooks from Hoenn University's freshman curriculum. Half of its day was spent on battle studies, and the other half on economics.
The level of dedication was absurd.
"I didn't see her face," Desmond continued after some thought. Crane noticed his eyes shifted to the upper left—a typical eye movement associated with recalling real memories in psychology. Though not always reliable, it was a common sign of truthful recollection.
"I saw Xue sitting with her back to me. She wasn't saying anything. No matter how much I tried to talk to her, she just didn't respond or move at all. After a while, I figured it was inappropriate for a man to be alone in her room, so I left," Desmond said firmly. It had only been this morning, and though he'd had some sleep, he still remembered the encounter clearly.
Edward sighed.
Why does this situation seem more and more like something did happen?
Xue not moving or speaking… it all felt off.
"For all we know, she might've already been dead at that point," Crane said grimly. "The killer could've propped her up somehow. As long as you didn't get too close or turn her around, you wouldn't notice."
There it was.
Edward gave Crane a strange look—he had said it out loud, just as expected.
"It's over. Completely over," Edward muttered to himself in exasperation, glancing around the room.
There's no Grim Reaper's emissary here, so why do these absurd situations keep happening to me?
Just then, the train car door opened.
"Boss, Mr. Deck asked me to check when we'll begin shooting the first scene," Daniel walked in and asked. But as soon as he stepped in, he noticed the heavy tension in the air.
"Ah, yes. Here we go," Edward said with a sigh. "A detective, a suspect, an unfortunate victim, and a closed environment—a classic setup for a murder mystery."
He looked at Daniel, who was dressed in full Sherlock Holmes attire, and rubbed his face. The scene was absurd.
Edward almost expected a certain froggy detective or a spiky-haired boy genius to jump out next. But then again, with Sherlock Holmes already here, maybe things weren't that bad.
"Shooting… we'll have to wait a bit. Someone's missing. Until we find her, we can't start," Edward said as he pinched his brow in frustration.
Suddenly, a thought struck him.
Could this all be happening because I didn't hold a proper opening ceremony?
In his past life, film crews would always pray or hold a kickoff event before shooting began, hoping for smooth progress.
"Don't tell me… this is because I skipped that?" Edward muttered, doubtful.
"Missing?" Daniel looked confused. "Someone went missing… on a moving train?"
"Yeah. That Xue girl," Edward said with a headache forming.
He glanced at Crane, who was practically buzzing with excitement. After all, a bizarre mystery had actually taken place—right on a moving train.
A sealed environment, a missing person—it was everything a mystery novelist could ask for.
Crane was thrilled.
"When all the impossibilities have been ruled out, what remains—no matter how improbable—must be the truth!" he declared, preparing to showcase the full power of his detective reasoning.
Just then, the door flew open.
"Boss, we found her. Xue's in the prop carriage, helping prepare props for the shoot," Shizuka said, bringing in the good news.
Crane froze completely.
Edward smiled.
"And just like that, someone's dream of a grand deduction crumbles into dust."
(End of Chapter)